1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for picking up and transporting hay bales, and for cutting up or disintegrating such hay bales to facilitate feeding of the hay to livestock.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the long-used practice of forming hay bales in a right parallelepiped configuration using wire has undergone a transformation so that, at present, the baling of hay is carried out, on an increasing scale, by forming relatively large cylindrical bales having twine wrapped around the bales sufficiently to retain them in their cylindrical configuration. Such bales are often formed with a crown at one end thereof which permits them to shed water so that the bales can be left in the field, and are not penetrated by rain to a degree such that the bales rot and the hay becomes sour or unpalatable. The cylindrical bales as thus formed have required the manufacture of entirely different types of hay baling machines from those traditionally used in the formation of the relatively small rectangular bales. Moreover, the large cylindrical bales, in weighing from 10 to 15 times as much as the rectangular bales, have presented new problems of picking up such bales in the field and transporting them to a storage or feeding location. Many structures and devices have been recently proposed for accomplishing such pick-up and transport of these bales.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,765, a hydraulic side lift loader in the form of a trailer adapted to be pulled behind a towing vehicle is disclosed. In this instance, the wheeled loader is driven alongside a bale to be lifted up and a cradle or frame is then passed around the cylindrical bale, after which it is lifted by pivoting this cradle or frame upwardly to deposit the bale upon the bed of the wheeled trailer. A conveyor is mounted on the trailer bed for the purpose of longitudinally moving the bale on the bed to remove the bale from the trailer after it has been transported by a towed vehicle to an unloading location.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,850, a bale shredder and discharger mounted upon a towed trailer are disclosed, with the trailer carrying ground-engaging wheels and having a longitudinally extending conveyor along the bed thereof. The conveyor functions to move bales to the forward end of the trailer bed where a cutting and shredding system is provided for disintegrating the hay bale, and permitting the disintegrated hay to be discharged on a cross-conveyor to one side or other of the trailer in order to feed stock after the bale has been transported to a feeding location. Such lateral discharge of ground feed by means of a cross-conveyor is also disclosed in Mohrlang et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,694,499.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,378 to Ryan describes a trailer vehicle which is adapted to pick up a hay stack bodily for transport to a different location by tilting the trailer bed downwardly, and then maneuvering the trailer by a tractor so that the lower end of the trailer is wedged partially under one end of the hay stack. A conveyor on the trailer bed is then activated to draw the stack up onto the trailer bed. The conveyor is reversible and can be operated in reverse fashion to discharge or off-load the hay bale. The Ryan patent further discloses the concept of providing, on a trailer of this type, a chopping apparatus at the forward end of the conveyor which chops or disintegrates the hay bale into short lengths for discharge in a form most suited for consumption by cattle. Ryan U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,484 also shows a generally similar structure.